The One Who's There
by Max-chan
Summary: The mafia has overrun the South Italy. Spain finds Romano wandering through a destroyed Sicily and wants to help. Spamano two-shot. Rating for violence and language. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

South Italy walks through the empty streets of Sicily, shattered. He is shattered along with his people, his land, his buildings. Not a single person walks beside him, through the deserted and bombed-out island, and he is scared. He will never admit it, but he is.

He collapses onto the cobbled streets, cradling his face in his hands. He is shocked to find tears there. Romano didn't cry, even when there wasn't a single person left south of Rome; even when for days he felt those damned IEDs going off, destroying him slowly. He did not cry then, but he cries now, kneeling in a once-beautiful village in Sicily, now left out to rot like an empty cicada shell.

Warm arms suddenly twine around him, keeping him together, his feverish mind thinks childishly. _I will fall apart without this person holding me together. _The person pulls him into a sitting position, stroking his soot-covered hair and wiping his tear-stained eyes gently, all the time whispering, "Ssh, mi tomate, it will be okay. Everything will be okay"

"T-tomato bastard?" he asks quietly. Spain nods and laughs weakly. "At least you feel well enough to insult me, Roma." Romano is silent after that, shaking against Spain's chest. Arms pull him up, but he is too tired to protest.

Spain somehow manages to drag a weakened and unusually silent Roma across the Mediterranean and into his house. For three days, the boy slept and when he woke up, he was no longer silent, but mumbling the names of (who Spain assumes were) random civilians. He then promptly fell asleep again.

Four days later, Spain was biting on his fingernails nervously when a knock sounded on his door. He rushed up, tripping over his own feet as he opened it. Romano's twin brother, North Italy, or just Italy to most, stood there, looking worried.

"Spain!" he cried, flinging his arms around a surprised Spain's neck. "I-ita-chan!" he mumbled. Italy's big brown eyes suddenly filled with tears. "Spain-nii-chan, it's terrible" he sobbed, "Roma's been missing for an entire week!" Italy gripped Spain harder, and the elder felt like his ribs were about to be snapped- when did Italy get so strong? "Italy, it's okay. I found Roma wandering around Sicily. He's in the back room, but last I checked, he was still sleeping." Italy ignored Spain's last remark and sprinted into the room Roma stayed in as a child, as well as now.

Spain shook his head- Italy could be so naïve!- before he forced himself to sit and eat a tomato. However, before long, voices filtered back to where he was sitting, tense. Well, whaddaya know. Roma must have woken up for just the second time this week. Then, Ita burst out of the bedroom, eyes wide in shock and mumbling "if he had told me, I could have helped him!" Spain decided to let the boy shuffle out of his house before he bolted up and into Romano's room.

He was pale, half-lidded eyes staring up at the ceiling blankly. Sweat covered him in a thin layer, and his usually, spiraled ahoge was crumpled into an odd shape. He almost looked- (no Spain! He corrected himself mentally- those are Russia thoughts; not yours!) "_Ciao, il mio bel pomodoro bastardo_" he said in an unusually reserved tone of voice. Spain was quiet for a moment, just thinking and looking, before whispering, "Roma, what happened to you?"

Romano turned so hazel eyes faced green ones and eyed Spain warily. "Do you really want to know, Spagna?" Spain nodded slowly. "Very much so, mi amor."

Romano sighed a sigh that quickly turned into a hacking cough, much to Spain's dismay. "Fine. About 2 years ago, 2011, I think, the mafia started attacking more and more. And it wasn't just politicians and their families anymore. It was normal people; people who didn't deserve the shit they had to go through.

"To make sure I wouldn't tell, they threatened more people, said they wouldn't kill them if Veneziano went to the World Meetings instead of me. I agreed, but at this point, everyone was terrified and started fleeing. Heh. Dove fuggi? The people in the Vatican were the last to go."

"That's terrible" Spain whispered, wrapping his fingers around Romano's in an attempt to reassure him or something, though he knew it was futile. The younger nation laughed bitterly, then started coughing again. "That's not even the worst of it. After they either murdered or chased off all of my people, they decided to ruin the land and livestock.

"They set up those horrible home-made bombs, the IEDs, everywhere, and set them off slowly, so I could feel every one. But I refused to cry for them, not this time.

"If they had gotten to Rome, both fratello and I would be human again, so I guess I'm glad you found me on Sicily before I did something stupid and provoked them."

Spain was quiet. Then, finally, he spoke, his words startling Romano. "Damn it, Romano! If you had told someone before… before it got this far, we could've helped you!"

Romano did his best at glaring at Spain and jerked his hand away. "I would've if I could've, cazzo stronzo! In case my explanation went right through that thick, overly-cheery skull of yours, which, knowing you, it probably did, the mafia was gonna kill my people if I told! They wouldn't have let the lucky ones escape to Veneziano's house! And why the hell are you holding my damn hand? I'm not 6 anymore, not like you give a sh-"

He was silenced by Spain determinedly grasping his hand, harder this time. He tried to wriggle free, but all the previous yelling had left him even more fatigued, so he wasn't able to escape.

"Ita-chan and I visited you pretty often during that time, right? Why didn't you tell us then? You could've been all stealth ninja and they would never know." Romano shook his head, though he was still sweating and getting paler by the second. "They were following me; if I told you guys, they would just bomb Rome along with everywhere else. And I that happened… well, Veneziano and I would be royally screwed, and the world wouldn't have either Italy. I think they could do without one of them."

Spain paled, grasping Romano's hand so tightly that the nation yelped. (He slackened his grip slightly then.) "You are not gonna die!" he whispered fiercely, "Rome is still standing, so you're still immortal. And it's going to stay that way."

Romano closed his eyes. If it were anyone else he was talking to, he would point out that the mafia was probably already heading for Rome, and if the ancient city fell while he was still in this state… well, he would be dead meat. Quite literally. But he stayed silent.

"If you want, I can send some of my soldiers to guard Rome" Spain offered, but the ill nation had already begun to drift off. He sighed and dropped a quick, chaste kiss on Roma's feverish forehead. Then he whipped out his cell and called for an emergency World Meeting.


	2. Chapter 2

Naturally, being nations and all, they were split evenly on sending out troops to defend the Italian capitol. Most of the European countries, Japan, America, China, and what's-his-face – America's twin, voted for it. The rest of the Asian nations, Cuba, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and Australia voted against it. Switzerland and his sister didn't vote, being neutral and all. No one knew why they even showed up.

So, they were at a never-ending stalemate. Germany and, of course, Spain, were ferverently arguing to defend the Italians. "We can't have two countries wiped off the map because you're too arrogant and self-centered to send in a few troops!" Germany snapped, eyes blazing.

"Oh, come on, let's just try to have a semblance of truth in this meeting," Russia snapped back, "it's really only one country, da? Besides, we can afford to lose the Southern one; he's useless!"

"Yeah, mate," Australia agrees. ((Sorry, I had to)) "besides, we can just rebuild Rome and everything's cool." _Except for the fact that Roma will be dead! _Spain mentally screams

Russia's amethyst eyes are glinting dangerously, but that doesn't stop Spain from feeling a strong urge to punch him for calling Romano (his Romano!) useless.

"No matter how useless you think he is now, you'll change your mind if you let him die." He says, voice trembling with barely controlled rage. In the meantime, Italy had managed to pull himself up from sobbing uncontrollably in the corner and looks at Russia. "You…" he says, voice also trembling, but for an entirely different reason.

"You are talking about my brother as if he is some stupid cow, not a human being! You can't go around saying 'oh, no one will give a damn if he dies, because he's useless!" Italy sobs, and Germany blocks his attempt of lunging at Russia, which was a fight he couldn't win. He pulls the sobbing brunette into his arms, whispering softly to him.

"_Per favore, Dio, fa Roma bene_!" he wails. It breaks Spain's heart, Italy begging to make his twin okay, almost as much as Romano's blank, fever-glazed eyes staring at him did.

Hungary raises her head, her eyes betraying the fact that she is very, very worried about the Italies. "Shall we vote again?" Nods all around.

"Those for the sending of international troops ((This means, like NATO and UN troops; that's why they have to vote)) to defend Rome from it's imminent destruction, raise your hands"

Four new hands are raised. Liechtenstein's and Ukraine's are trembling slightly, thinking their siblings will punish them for switching sides, although Switzerland looks fairly happy that his sister is thinking for herself now. (We're ignoring Russia and Belarus, who are glaring death rays at Ukraine- poor girl!) Taiwan and Hong Kong raise their hands rather proudly.

Hungary looks satisfied. "Alright, those in favor of no international action for Rome, therefore killing at least one nation; possibly two, and mentally damaging… a few others." She looks pointedly at Spain, who turns and blushes. (Though she's more than likely correct.) Russia raises his hand, muttering darkly about being biased. Belarus, Cuba, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Switzerland, Australia, and New Zealand follow suit.

It isn't enough, and Belarus knows it. She growls in annoyance and opens her gloved palms, pulling out several throwing knives and flicking them at the trembling Latvia. He shrieks as two pierce the extra fabric on his sleeves and pin him to the wall. "LATVIA!"

Estonia screams, freeing the struggling nation.

However, Italy Spain, and Germany see none of this, as they were out the doors as soon as the decision was reached, rushing to Spain's house to make sure a certain country on the brink of death survived the meeting.

.-.-.-.-.-TOWT.-.-.-.-.-.-

_Epilogue_

3 Months Later

At first, Romano refused to be helped by anyone, which was quite admirable, really, considering what he'd been through. However, Spain convinced him to let the aids into Rome. He, Italy, and Germany all sent in workers to help restore the land, population, and general infrastructure of S. Italy. Again, the irritable Italian wasn't very happy with this arrangement- "Potato bastard helping me? It's probably just to get closer to that dumbass brother of mine!"- to witch Spain pecked him on the cheek and said, "He helped you in Rome, and he'll help you now. And help is help, even if it is just to get closer to Ita-chan." That shut him up.

So, slowly but surely, Roma was recovering. He was now awake more often than he was out cold- unlike in the first month or so, when all he did was sleep, like he was in a coma that came and went. And about a month ago, he started to eat tomatoes again, much to Spain's delight. (Yes, to hell with all other foods. Tomatoes are the only things that matter.)

But today was one of the bad days- when Romano realized he wasn't going to be on his feet anytime soon, when the remainder of the now-disbanded mafia would randomly come together to bomb somewhere else. So, today, they both sat in a thoughtful silence.

That was, until Romano broke the fragile nothingness with a quivering voice. "Why are you so good to me, Spagna?" Spain looked up, green eyes softening. "I mean, I'm a total ass to you al the time an still, every day, you take care of me and cheer me up. But I don't deserve it. I don't deserve you."

Spain didn't answer for while, thinking. Then, sighing, he decided on the truth. "First off, don't say things like that. You deserve anything I can give you. And…" he took a breath "It's because I love you. Te quiero tanto, Romano. Te amo… so much, so much…"

Romano froze, stunned. Then, finally, something. "Damn you, Spain. Damn you and your stupid green eyes in which I would really like to drown in, damn your smile, and general niceness. Damn it all! Do you think I wanted to fall in love with you? No! But… ti amo troppo. And I thought you were too stupid to figure it out… so I said nothing. But mio Dio, I really want to kiss those tomato-loving lips of yours right now!"

He blushed, looking down and biting his lips, quite obviously mortified. But Spain just smiled. "Do it, then. Kiss me!"

And for once in his life Romano obeyed.

Daaw. Does anyone else feel this ending I out of place? I sure as hell do. :D It stems from my compete inability to keep a story angsty. But I'm working on it, don't worry! Also, I'm working on my habit of not finishing stories before posting new ones. This will only be my second second chapter, lol.

As an added note, my spacebar is shit. And so are most of the keys. But I guess that's to be expected from a computer that s literally as old as I am! D: You have to put in an Internet DISC or it to be able to connect- ugh. So I have to use a USB to transfer all my stories to a computer with WiFi. I've already lost one thumb drive.

And two things before I go-! I don't own the characters in this story, or Hetalia. Hidekaz Himaruya does, foos. AND… Seborga is SO a Spamano lovechild!

~Max-chan, a girl with a guy's name. (On Hatena and FF at least! :D)


End file.
